Weezer bassist Scott Shriner’s wife, Jillian Lauren, faced legal trouble years before her recent arrest on charges of attempted murder, In Touch can exclusively report.
According to court documents obtained by In Touch, Jillian, 51, was sued over a 2010 book she wrote titled Some Girls: My Life in a Harem.
The autobiography detailed Jillian’s alleged time as a female “guest” of Prince Jefri Bolkiah, the brother of the Sultan of Brunei in the early 90’s.
In September 2010, a woman named Stacy Strouse-Johnson filed the lawsuit against Jillian and her book publisher for defamation and invasion of privacy.
Stacy claimed Jillian appeared on Good Morning America to promote the book on July 14, 2010.
Per the suit, Jillian provided the show with multiple photos from her past. Stacy said during the segment, a still photograph of her and Jillian appears with the caption, “Life in a Harem, Window into a Forbidden World.”
Stacy said the photo was shown on screen for an extended period of time and that she was “readily identifiable” as the woman next to Jillian.
In her suit, Stacy said her mom watched the segment and was “shocked and distressed to learn that her daughter was supposedly a prostitute in a harem in Brunei.”
The complaint read, “The clear implication from the use of the photograph and its caption is that [Stacy] was herself a member of a harem, and just like [Jillian] acted like a high priced prostitute for the Prince of Brunei.”
The suit continued, “Such an implication is absolutely false and defamatory per se. [Stacy] was not a member of a harem and was not a prostitute.”
Stacy claimed she suffered and continued to suffer humiliation, emotional distress and mental and physical pain and anguish. Her lawsuit demanded unspecified damages from the defendants.
The book publisher denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
A lawyer for the publisher argued the photo shown in the segment did not identify Stacy by name or refer to her in any way.
“While [Stacy] may have preferred to conceal her association with [Jillian] and the prince, [Stacy’s] displeasure about the news segment does not give her any basis to sue [the publisher] or its author,” their lawyer argued.
Jillian filed a declaration as part of the book publisher’s motion to dismiss. She said she met Stacy at the airport on the way to Brunei. She also alleged that Stacy stayed at the same house as her and often attended the same parties.
“As time passed during our visit, I became one of Prince Jefri’s favorite women attending the parties, and he allowed me to sit next to him during these gatherings. [Stacy] eventually left Brunei after the Prince focused his attention on other women,” she alleged.
She argued the Good Morning American segment did not mention Stacy by name.
On April 21, 2011, Stacy dismissed the entire case with prejudice.
Earlier this week, Jillian was involved in a wild incident with police that ended with her being arrested on charges of attempted murder.
The Los Angeles Police Department and the California Highway Patrol were called to a hit-and-run on a freeway. TMZ reported that three suspects fled the scene.
One of the suspects ended up in a neighborhood near the alleged accident.
The suspect ended up in the backyard of a home, which is next to the home where Scott, 59, and Jillian live. Jillian came out of her home with a gun in her hand.
TMZ said the police instructed her to put her gun down, but she did not comply with the demand.
The L.A.P.D. accused her of aiming the gun at officers which led to her being shot in the shoulder.
According to the report, Jillian went back inside her home after being hit. Jillian came out of the home a short time later and surrendered to law enforcement.
TMZ reported she was taken to a hospital and then booked for attempted murder. She was released on a $1 million bond. No official charges have been filed as of yet.
